The United States has pledged USD 17 million (EUR 14.7 million) to fight counter illegal, unreported, and unregulated (IUU) fishing in and around the Pacific Islands.
“The United States is a Pacific nation and has long stood with our Pacific friends and neighbors to advance a free and open Indo-Pacific region,” the U.S. Department of State said in a release. Our commitment to the security and prosperity of the Pacific Islands is steadfast, enduring, and a key pillar of our America First Foreign Policy.”
According to the department, the funding will support the Pacific regional IUU Fishing Project, which will provide legal support to governments wishing to update their national laws and regulations to better counter IUU fishing. Among the goals listed for the project are training more compliance officers and deploying new autonomous technologies to improve monitoring.
The funding was announced by Deputy Secretary of State Christopher Landau at the Pacific Islands Forum Partners Dialogue in Palau as part of USD 150 million (EUR 129 million) in support for the Pacific Islands. In addition to combatting IUU fishing, the USD 150 million U.S. Department of State funding will go toward energy projects, improving port infrastructure, and upgrading data and network capacity.
The announcement comes shortly after the U.S. government and Pacific Island members of the South Pacific Tuna Treaty met in Wellington, New Zealand, and affirmed their intention to work together on combatting IUU fishing.
“The Participants recognized the urgency of the risk and the need to examine innovative approaches to pursue bolder actions that would combat IUU fishing across the region,” the parties said in a joint statement 6 July. “The United States and Pacific Island Parties reaffirmed the importance of continued cooperation to protect fisheries resources, uphold international rules and standards, ensure that Pacific tuna fisheries remain sustainably managed for the benefit of future generations, and ensure parity, including recognition of equal treatment for all small island developing states and participating territories in the management of the region’s fisheries.”
